Stillwell Following in Father’s Footsteps

Kurt Stillwell’s father, Ron, had 14 official at-bats in the major leagues with the Washington Senators. He went straight off the campus of USC to Yankee Stadium, where he played his first big league game.

Ron Stillwell was a shortstop, but his career was cut short when he collided with his left fielder.

“He broke his jaw and messed up his eyes,” Kurt Stillwell said.

Ron Stillwell’s vision was never the same. But what he knew he imparted to his son, Kurt, who grew up in Thousand Oaks.

“It seems like I’ve been a shortstop all my life,” Kurt Stillwell says.

Ron Stillwell is now the baseball coach at Moorpark College. Kurt Stillwell, who will be 21 June 4, may be the starting shortstop for the Cincinnati Reds before that.

“He’s got a great chance of making the team,” said Pete Rose, the Reds’ player-manager. “He can play shortstop and second base.”

But on opening day, Davey Concepcion will be the starting shortstop, according to Rose. “I can’t see how it would ever be justified to put anybody in Davey’s spot on opening day,” he said.

But Stillwell’s time will come--soon. He already has made tremendous progress, moving from high school to triple-A in 1 1/2 seasons.

“I didn’t think it’d be quite this quick,” said Stillwell, who had planned to go to Stanford until the Reds made him their first pick in the 1983 draft.

“But I’m sitting in a good situation with the Reds.”

The switch-hitting Stillwell, who was named Southern Section 4-A player of the year after his senior year at Thousand Oaks High, played only 59 games last season in Denver because of a stress fracture in his right shin. He’s OK now, he says.

Concepcion, who may lose his job, has been OK, too, Stillwell said.

“He’s been great. The guys have been harassing him, but I have total respect for him. The situation hasn’t been touchy at all. We even went fishing together.”